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A specific set of challenges facing the intelligence community in a contemporary environment is characterized by composite and dynamic hybrid threats. An understanding of the reciprocal interaction is required between the intelligence actors responsible for intelligence analysis and dissemination, and key societal actors responsible for crafting responses to hybrid threats and building societal resilience. Three processes are identified as critical for the intelligence community’s ability to proactively counter hybrid threats: intelligence analysis; aggregation and communication of intelligence; and reception and absorption of intelligence among key societal actors. The interconnections between these areas are visualized in the Intelligence Analysis Interaction Model, intending to provide a framework for understanding the dynamics of hybrid threats and their evolution over time, and the intelligence community’s interactive engagement with societal actors aiming to counter hybrid threats and build resilience. The framework contributes to improved tools for identifying and analyzing the nexus between threats and vulnerabilities, building resilience, and devising whole-of-society responses to hybrid threats.

This toolbox consolidates key practitioner takeaways from five publications authored by members of the Hybrid Threats Research Group into a single practitioner’s toolbox for countering hybrid threats and cognitive warfare and for strengthening psychological defence and resilience. The toolbox brings together models developed and published by the group. It links short-term threat–response cycles to long-term resilience and psychological defence, and operationalises national-level psychological defence in a convenient, ready-to-use format.

First, the hybridity blizzard model depicts how the aggressor’s targeting of vulnerabilities interacts with the defender’s responses over time, situating intelligence at the interface of detection and countermeasures with resilience-building. The model also outlines responses to challenges in the contemporary operational environment, highlighting key focus areas for intelligence community actors across analysis, communication, and capability development. 

Second, the intelligence analysis interaction (hourglass) model captures three coupled processes – analysis, aggregated, tailored communication, and reception/absorption among societal actors. This model highlights bottlenecks and the need for feedback-rich, whole-of-society practice. 

Third, an analytical framework for building resilience and psychological defence countering hybrid threats and foreign influence and interference is outlined. This assess–address–evaluate framework provides a six-dimensional structure, including 1) threat assessment, 2) vulnerability assessments, 2) defence mechanisms, 3) coordination and cooperation, 4) legal/policy framework, and 5) impact and effectiveness. It guides analysis, action, and learning for psychological defence and resilience. 

Together, these elements provide practitioners with a practical toolbox to diagnose hybrid activity, design intelligence interactions that resonate well with the recipient (consumers), and strengthen resilience and psychological defence through a coordinated whole-of-society approach.

With the 2022 update to NATO’s AJP-01 Allied Joint Doctrine, mission command was elevated from an important component of a joint command philosophy to the alliance’s overarching command philosophy – a shift in written doctrine raising concerns about its practical application across the multinational force. This study explores the gap between written doctrine and operational practice, highlighting the complexities of implementing mission command within NATO’s diverse military landscape. Through 33 interviews with NATO senior leaders, the analysis highlights challenges in achieving human interoperability in a multinational environment. We show that NATO commanders lack some of the mechanisms held in the literature to be efficient means to ensure its implementation in national settings. Ultimately, while the doctrinal emphasis on mission command is a positive step, its successful implementation requires operational commanders across the NATO command structure ensure that doctrine is read and discussed, and that training activities designed to facilitate prudent risk-taking are arranged. Finally, we call for a focus on the use of simple language to promote mutual understanding. These steps might aid the transition from paper to practice, and enhance human interoperability.

The need to develop resilience and psychological defence in the face of different forms of hybrid threats and malign foreign influence and interference is greater than ever. In this light, it has become increasingly obvious that a country’s resilience and psychological defence capabilities must cover a broad spectrum of conflicts, including severe crises and war. This paper takes these complex and multifaceted types of threats as a point of departure in its attempt to outline an analytical framework for countering hybrid threats and foreign influence and interference. The ambition is then to operationalise this framework into a practical guide that can be used for identifying and analysing hybrid threats and foreign influence against democracies and their national interests. 

To be able to build resilience and psychological defence, a shared analytical framework is needed, which provides a broader and more inclusive nation-state perspective than existing frameworks. The framework outlined in this paper is intended to be a starting point for analysis, usable for government and non-government actors alike. It aims to serve as a platform for addressing different dimensions of hybrid threats and malign foreign influence and interference. It also provides tools for comparing and analysing the dimensions within and across cases. The formation of responses to foreign interference should be seen as a process consisting of three distinct phases: 1) assessing situational awareness; 2) addressing defence and countermeasures; and 3) evaluating the state’s system for countering foreign interference. 

This framework serves as the basis for the development of a practical analytical guidebook that is built to be modular, where one can pick and choose depending on own needs and questions asked. It is also developed to be suitable for both more structured analysis as well as less structured qualitative analysis. The guidebook is simplified into an analytical template that can be used as a readily available checklist for users.

This article takes a particular interest in the dynamics between information flows, continuous ongoing assessments, intelligence dissemination, and forward-looking operational advice. The point of departure is the tension between balancing quality (in the sense of in-depth processing of large amounts of information) and speed (meeting requirements of timeliness) in current intelligence assessments. The article takes an explorative approach to practices in current intelligence, utilizing qualitative interview data combined with open source material.

This open access anthology takes a holistic approach to how Russia carries out hybrid warfare against its neighbouring countries - states at the intersection between the East and West.The book addresses the vulnerabilities of these countries to Russian influence and hybrid warfare tactics, as well as their responses to this security challenge. It includes a close examination of local developments in states such as Ukraine, Belarus, Finland, Armenia, Serbia and many others, analysing specific scenarios and practices, and draws on these observations to develop the current conceptual understanding of hybrid warfare as a phenomenon. Scholarship frequently focuses only on Russia and treats countries subjected to Russian hybrid measures as passive victims, thus providing an overly schematic picture of Russian behaviour. This book instead treats these states as actors in their own right, assessing their potential to address and counter the specific security problems arising from their geographic and political position.

The ebook editions of this book are available open access under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence on bloomsburycollections.com.